Build For The Worst

Even when we know what is right, we consistently fail to do it. The human mind is incredibly prepared to diverge from responsibility. The ability to recognize the world as it is, and hold the conclusions that one must necessarily draw from it, while not acting on those conclusions is both comfortable and easy. Because knowledge and the desire for comfort arise from the same brain, the brain often maximizes for both things at the same time and lets internal coherence die. Once internal coherence is gone, a feeling of self-righteousness and the actions of self-indulgence can coexist in harmony. When individuals cannot even see the world clearly and have no recognition of their responsibilities, then even internal coherence is not required to allow irresponsible behaviour. Some forms of human behavior have emerged as conducive to a stable societal order and human flourishing. Even people who mean well and know how to act for the good of themselves and others are often not able to do so, and the world is full of many with less altruistic motives. The good intentions of every societal revival or revolt are inevitably hampered by internal inconsistency and bad actors. Every crucial institution must be designed with this human brokenness in mind, while incentivizing moral and cooperative behavior when design choices must be made.

Humans are inherently broken. The problems with society can never be described as purely the problems of a system. Every economic and governmental system is at its core a collective mechanism of the people it consists of. Unless people are perfect, the system they produce cannot be expected to reverse the chain of causation and allow them to reach perfection. People want evil things, people do not know the difference between good and evil, and even those who do know what is good continually fail to enact it. Whether individuals have an internal coherence pointed towards evil or an internal lack of coherence pointed at good, there is no sea of human goodness being restrained by faulty institutions. Good intentions or a complete lack of them simply help determine where people are on a continuum from broken to evil. Any form of government that expects to rely on human goodness must provide evidence of a population of internally coherent good people that has never yet been found. …